New Delhi, Jan 14 (PTI) The leasing of office spaceremained flat at 41.7 million sq ft, while the average rentalrose by 3 per cent during 2017, according to propertyconsultant Knight Frank India.
Office space absorption stood at 41.6 million sq ft in2016, the consultant said in its latest report.
The new supply increased by 7 per cent to 32.7 million sqft last year from 30.7 million sq ft in 2016.
The seven cities tracked in this report are -- Delhi-NCR,Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.
"The Indian office space market has been plagued by anabject lack of viable space over the past four years, whiledemand has stayed doggedly steady," the report said.
The decline in office space was arrested in 2017 withsupply growing by 7 per cent.
"The overall transaction continue to substantially exceedsupply and this has pulled down the vacancy level to 11.6 percent from 13.5 per cent a year ago," Knight Frank said.
On rentals, the consultant said that the growth has beenstrong across markets with the exception of Mumbai thatwitnessed a 5 per cent decline due to increased supply andvacancy levels.
The weighted average rentals rose to Rs 72 per sq ft permonth from Rs 68 in 2016.
The report highlighted that the co-working phenomenon isgathering speed.
Across these seven cities, co-working space providershave taken up around 1.3 million sq ft of office space duringthe second half of 2017.
"The office leasing market maintained its strongfundamentals although expansion concern for the turbulence-hittechnology sector is still prevalent," Knight Frank India CMDShishir Baijal said in the report.
The steady expansion of new age businesses such as co-working space providers is also one of the defining stories of2017, he added. PTI MJHBAL.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.